I have a question about angry students. This week I watched a student verbally attack another student. I was sitting in on the class helping another instructor. The class was going over their work, and a student who had been checking her voicemail had it on speaker, and the voicemail played out loud. A student turned around and was very hostile and rude towards the other one. A discussion ensued, a heated one. I was very concerned, but I did not feel that I could intervene. The instructor responsible for the class ignored the discourse and let it play itself out. Should this have been handled differently? I would like to know how to handle conflict like this in case I ever encounter it in my own class.
I try to listen to the student as to the nature of their anger outside of class.
Talk to them in a non aggressive tone. Let them talk about what is making them angry. Just listen to them
talking with the student one-on-one and listening to their concerns or frustrations
I will usually ask to speak to the student outside of the classroom to determine the cause of the behavior. If unrelated to school, I try to convince the student to re-focus on school work and then tend to the other matter at another time, if it is not urgent in nature.
There have been times when catastrophic things happen in a students' life that will affect their behavior and performance in class, and sometimes it is necessary to allow them to leave so that they can tend to their family, etc.
The first thing I ask the student to do is to breathe. This refocuses the student's attention first of all. It also gives the student a moment to think about what is going on. I go in to the reflective thinking mode and state "I am listening. I understand that you are upset about something - if you can take a deep breath and then tell me specifically what is going on, we can come to a resolution about this". Using the words I am listening, calms the student instantly because it seems that is what they want more than anything. For someone to listen to them. Secondly, by asking them to tell me specifically what is going on, it reduces all of the uneccessary information and thirdly, by stating we can resolve the issue it gives the student hope of a resolution and closure.
I usually try to address the situation on the spot. Usually there is the need to discuss the matter out of the presence of the other students, but rarely is the angry student willing to table the matter. I try to stay as calm as possible and gently change the discussion if possible.
The unfortunate downside is that the angry student usually will poison the well after that class and use the grapevine to continue to gripe.
Hi Debbie,
Listening is of the utmost importance when it comes to dealing with angry students. Simply let the student talk as long as he or she needs to.
Patricia
The most important thing to do is to listen to the student. Let them vent their anger. Let them express their opinion. You want to let them know you want to arrive at a solution to the problem. You respect their opinion and want to help them learn.
I have had a recent experience of having to remove a student from class. This student had trouble with the class from day one and was not able to deal well with a school environment. I know that I took the correct action, as much as I didn't want to do it. This student made the learning environment impossible. With assistance from my administrator, we were able to minimize the situation. Afterwords, we discussed the incident and came to the conclusion that the student had much bigger problems than the work in class.
Hi Melissa,
You are right. If the student is just too angry to discuss the situation, it is best to let the student calm down and discuss it the next day. I've experienced this before, and it works well. You can not rationalize with a person if they are overly angry.
Patricia
Hi Rosemary,
I understand. Where there are women, there is drama. Men tend to be a lot easier deal with. I like the nickname, it is rather fitting.
Patricai
Hi Barbara,
We have two ears and one mouth, therefore in this situation we must utilize these parts accordingly; listen more and talk less.
Patricia
I found it interesting that the article said that the angry student was "rare" and that it was mostly male.
I teach cosmetology and we have a lot of angry female students. At one point there was so much drama in our department we were nicknamed the "Dramatology Dept."
I think that there are a lot of students that cannot cope with all the stresses of their current situation, many are unemployed with families to support and think that coming back to school is going to solve all their problems. It turns out that school becomes yet another issue they have to deal with which leads to anger and frustration.
They need a lot of emotional support.
I liked a lot of the suggestions about dealing with angry or hostile students. I definitely agree that the best strategy is to listen. I have also had situations where I felt the student was too emotionally charged to deal with the issue and suggested they come see me at a mutually convenient time to discuss the matter further. This gives them the opportunity to calm down and also sometimes realize that their anger was unfounded.
I did take issue with the "fact" that the large majority of hostile students are male. In my experience(and the other instructors I spoke with) this is absolutely not the case. I consistently have more females challenging my authority and taking issue of an assignment or grade in a hostile manner than males.
I agree with this statement. It would only embarass the student and escalate the situation to address the student in front of the class. I would definitely talk with the student individually and I would mostly listen and do very little talking. I would ask the student what I could do to help.
The subject I teach (Massage Therapy) is very suseptable to emotions. When I am dealing with an angry student I explain to them that their clients will be able to "pick up" on their emotions. I never try to label their emotions for them---just explain the importance of remaining empathetic to the clients.
One of the things I tell them is "find a drawer to put your emotional stuff in when you come to work, then if you want to --you can take it home with you."
Hi Don,
Listening is key. As educators, we must be effective listeners. Sometimes the angry student simply wants to vent.
Patricia
LISTEN FIRST- show them you are concerned , let them get it off thheir chest. Then you can assess the situation and decide how to proceed.
Hi Farrel,
Listening is a must! A lot of our students do cry for help. If the situation is beyond our scope seek an expert in the area.
Patricia
